American astronauts who returned from the International Space Station (ISS) in October experienced some problems during their mission, and these problems continued to plague them partly on Earth. Both the astronauts and NASA refuse to disclose details about the incident.

During the mission in orbit, NASA was forced to cancel the spacewalks of two astronauts under mysterious circumstances. Then, on October 25, one of the astronauts was hospitalized due to a problem. “medical problem” — this happened just after the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule landed after the end of the 235-day mission. After spending the night in the hospital, the astronaut was discharged “in good health,” returned to his home base in Houston, and resumed normal post-flight activities. The space agency did not name the astronaut or disclose his condition, citing the confidential nature of medical information.

In October, commander Matthew Dominick, pilot Michael Barratt and specialist Jeanette Epps, as well as Russian Alexander Grebenkin, returned from the ISS in the Crew Dragon capsule – the latter was definitely not hospitalized. Dominik, Barratt and Epps held a press conference last Friday but did not disclose the name of the astronaut who was hospitalized or the problem he was experiencing. Initially, NASA sent all four crew members to a hospital in Pensacola, Fla., for evaluation, but the Russian and two Americans were quickly discharged and returned to Houston. One of the astronauts remained in the hospital for another day.

“We still don’t fully understand spaceflight. Sometimes we discover things we didn’t expect. This was one of those cases and we are still gathering information on the subject; Michael Barratt, who is also a physician and flight surgeon, said we are currently working to ensure medical confidentiality and to ensure our processes continue to proceed appropriately.” That’s all we have to say. NASA generally discloses astronaut health data to third-party researchers who regularly publish papers; on the other hand, it is stated that one of the most important goals of missions to the ISS is to study the human body’s response to space flights. The institution must comply with U.S. federal regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, which restricts the disclosure of private health information.

It’s not just the medical issue surrounding the Crew-8 mission that’s shrouded in mystery. On June 13, Dominique and American astronaut Tracy Dyson were supposed to take a spacewalk, but NASA canceled the operation due to the spacewalk. “Discomfort problem in spacesuit”. Dominic was replaced by Barratt, and the spacewalk was postponed until June 24 – during the operation it was necessary to remove the faulty electronic unit and collect samples of microorganisms. But it had to be interrupted after 31 minutes when Dyson reported a water leak in the spacesuit’s service and cooling hose block. While Barratt detailed the water leak at the press conference, Dominique refused to answer questions about the disturbance.

The water leak incident was broadcast live on NASA TV: Even with the hatch open, ice particles were abundant in the airlock and exploded, smearing Dyson’s helmet and gloves. Once the leak stabilized, the astronauts closed the hatch and began re-pressurizing the airlock. It was determined that the problem was not related to the actions of the astronauts, but to equipment defects. At that moment, NASA had more important tasks: scientific experiments, the arrival of a cargo ship and testing the Boeing Starliner capsule. The spacewalk mission was urgent; NASA plans to repeat this with a different team of astronauts in January.

Barratt said the spacesuits on the ISS are ready for the next spacewalk attempt. He also admitted that they are old: The original version was developed more than 40 years ago, and there are no new models yet. In June, Collins Aerospace terminated its contract with NASA to develop new spacesuits to service the ISS and future orbital stations. Therefore, Barratt did not rule out the possibility of problems with old spacesuits.